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TelAviv: Jerusalem's Armenians Outraged As City Approves Jews-Only P

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  • TelAviv: Jerusalem's Armenians Outraged As City Approves Jews-Only P

    JERUSALEM'S ARMENIANS OUTRAGED AS CITY APPROVES JEWS-ONLY PARKING LOT IN OLD CITY
    By Nir Hasson

    Ha'aretz
    http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jerusalem-s-armenians-outraged-as-city-approves-jews-only-parking-lot-in-old-city-1.410694
    Feb 3 2012
    Israel

    For decades, the parking lot was open to all, though Jewish Quarter
    residents paid far less for a parking sticker than their Armenian
    neighbors.

    Armenian residents of Jerusalem's Old City are protesting a municipal
    decision to designate a parking lot in the area solely for Jews,
    although part of it stands on land belonging to the Armenian
    Patriarchate.

    Parking is a major problem in the Old City, and some residents of
    the Jewish Quarter claim it is one reason secular families have been
    moving out. One of the parking lots serving this quarter is adjacent
    to the Armenian Quarter and is partially built on land owned by the
    Patriarchate, though the land has been leased by the Jewish Quarter
    Development Company since the 1970s.

    For decades, the parking lot was open to all, though Jewish Quarter
    residents paid far less for a parking sticker than their Armenian
    neighbors. But around two years ago, Armenians were forbidden to
    park there.

    "One day I came home from work and the lot was closed," said Mussa
    Marizian, an Armenian Quarter resident whose windows overlook the
    parking lot. "The quarter's management decided we shouldn't park
    there; they just got rid of us. Jews who live in the Muslim Quarter
    are allowed to park there, but I, who live right on top of the parking
    lot, am not allowed."

    The development company subsequently asked the municipality for a
    waiver to enable the lot to be permanently used for parking, even
    though it is zoned as open public land under Jerusalem's master plan
    of 1978.

    On Thursday, the city's planning and building committee approved
    the waiver, over the protests of both Armenian residents and the
    Patriarchate's representative, attorney Mazen Qupty, who argued that
    most of the land was owned by the church.

    "It was hard to hear the very inconsiderate arguments made by the
    people of the Jewish Quarter about the needs of their Armenian
    neighbors," said Yosef "Pepe" Alalu, the Meretz deputy mayor, who
    voted against the waiver. "How can it be that the parking lot used
    to be open to all but now Armenians cannot enter?"

    The Jerusalem Development Company said that less that 10 percent of
    the parking lot's land was leased from the Patriarchate, and that
    the lease was for 99 years.

    "The Armenians have a roomy parking lot 150 meters from that spot,"
    the company said. "The request for exceptional use was a procedural
    issue to renew the parking lot's operating license and the objections
    were legally rejected."

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